Venue: Centre Broca
Vanessa Stempel
Instinctive Behaviour Circuits Group
Max Planck Institute
Frankfurt, Germany
https://brain.mpg.de/stempel
Invited by Rui Rodrigues (Magendie)
Title
Brainstem circuits for instinctive behaviour production
Abstract
Instinctive behaviours, such as hunting, pup care and defence have evolved to ensure survival without the need for learning and are generated by remarkably conserved brain circuits in vertebrates. A key region that plays a crucial role in the initiation and execution of many, if not most, instinctive behaviours is the midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG). Despite a large body of behavioural work, the neural mechanisms underlying the adaptive motor production of instinctive behaviours through this conserved brainstem circuit remain largely unknown. In this talk, I will discuss how excitatory and inhibitory neural circuits in the midbrain periaqueductal gray shape the initiation and execution of instinctive escape, and how they may support action selection during motivational conflict.
Relevant publications
– Stempel AV* and Evans DA*, et al. (2024) Tonically active GABAergic neurons in the dorsal periaqueductal gray control instinctive escape in mice. Curr Biol; 34:3031–3039
– Evans DA* and Stempel AV*, et al. (2018) A synaptic threshold mechanism for computing escape decisions. Nature; 558:590–594
– Stempel AV (2024) A conserved brainstem region for instinctive behaviour control: the vertebrate periaqueductal gray. Curr Opin Neurobiol; 86:10.1016/j.conb.2024.102878. (Review)
– Evans DA*, Stempel AV*, Vale R*, Branco T (2019) Cognitive control of escape behaviour. Trends Cogn. Sci; 23:334-348. (Review)